The present invention is related to a vehicular exterior mirror assembly and, in particular, to an electrical connector arrangement for delivering electrical current to mirror positioning actuator motors in such exterior mirror assembly.
Vehicle exterior mirrors are remotely positionable by an actuator assembly. Such actuator assembly typically includes two motors, each for rotating the mirror with respect to one of two generally orthogonal axes. Various techniques have been proposed for supplying electrical current to the two motors in order to independently actuate the motors in either a forward or reverse rotational direction. It is common to provide a hollow pivot post that pivotally mounts the mirror assembly to the vehicle, in order to provide a breakaway feature whereby the mirrors may be knocked out of position without damaging the mirror mounting or which may be folded by yet another motor into a foldaway position. It is known to have a wiring harness pass through the central opening of the pivot post and be terminated at one or more electrical connectors for connecting with the actuator assembly. A difficulty with the prior art is that the connector bodies used to electrically interface the wiring harness with the actuator case terminals have been too large to pass through the opening in the pivot post pivotally mounting the mirror assembly. Therefore, it has been necessary to leave the other end of the wire harness not terminated to thereby pass -through the opening in the pivot post. This requires a subsequent step of terminating the other end of the wiring harness which is a labor intensive operation that must take place after the mirror has been assembled. On mirror assemblies that are not foldable, it is still necessary to pass the wires through an opening passing to the vehicle.
In a proposed actuator, the connectors are made up of electrical terminals staked onto the wires and then slidably received within complimentary slots in the connector body. Such arrangement has not been entirely satisfactory. The connector body must be made relatively large in order to provide sufficient rigidity to the terminals held in this manner. Furthermore, the assembly of the terminal to the connector body is relatively labor intensive and conducive to automated assembly. Furthermore, the retention of the terminals in the connector body is of questionable strength.
In order to retain the connector to the case of the actuator, resilient clips are provided on the connector body which engage openings in the actuator case. Thus, a force pushing the connector body towards the actuator case will cause the terminals of the connector to engage terminals of the case and will ultimately cause an engagement of the spring resilient clips with the openings in the actuator case. While such arrangement is intended to hold the connector in place against the actuator case, the connector can be readily dislocated by a pulling on the wire harness. Therefore, an extra stay is provided to hold the wiring harness against the actuator case to reduce the likelihood that the wires will be pulled sufficiently to dislocate the connector bodies from the case.
Another difficulty with such arrangement is that it necessitates the placement of openings in the actuator case. Because the actuator is exposed to environmental conditions, namely moisture, road splash, and the like, the existence of openings in the case provides a quality difficulty with the known connector engagement mechanism. In order to overcome the difficulty, the prior art has proposed configuring the connector to provide a sealing interface is between the connector body and the case. While such arrangement may reduce the amount of moisture entering the case, it cannot entirely preclude such penetration.
Another difficulty with prior actuator assemblies is the necessity to provide electrical conductors from terminals on the actuator case to the electrical motors therein. It is common to use metal banding to attach the internal conductors to the external terminals which technique is prone to a high incident of poor conductivity and even mechanical failure. Several proposals have been made to replace the banding procedures of the prior art. One proposal is disclosed in commonly assigned patent application Ser. No. 08/780,996 filed Jan. 9, 1997, for a HOUSING WITH INTEGRAL CONNECTOR FOR REARVIEW MIRROR ACTUATOR ASSEMBLY, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. However, even the proposals provided therein require a separate step of applying conductors to the actuator case.
The present invention provides a vehicular exterior mirror assembly which eliminates the drawbacks of the prior art. According to an aspect of the invention, the mirror assembly includes an actuator having a case and at least two electric motors supported by the case and connected with a reflective element to provide adjustment to the reflective element with respect to at least two axes. A wiring harness is provided having a connector and a plurality of wires terminated at the connector. The connector includes at least three electrical connector terminals electrically interconnected with the wires. When the connectors join with the actuator-case, the connector terminals make direct contact with corresponding receiving terminals of the electrical motors. In this manner, the necessity for electrical connectors within the actuator casing is substantially eliminated and both motors are supplied from one connector. Importantly, this eliminates the necessity for the banding of conductors to the motor terminals and the attendant labor expenses and failure mode associated therewith. It also avoids potential misconnection resulting from use of more than one connector to feed the motors.
According to another aspect of the invention, a vehicular exterior mirror assembly includes an actuator having a case and at least two electric motors supported by the case and connected with a reflective element to provide adjustment to the reflective element with respect to two axes. A wiring harness is provided having a connector and a plurality of wires terminated at the connector. The connector includes a plurality of electrical connector terminals electrically interconnected with the wires and adapted to be joined with the actuator case. The connector includes a body defined by two facing portions that capture portions of the connector terminals between the two facing portions. This configuration provides exceptionally secure mechanical support for the terminals by the connector body. This is accomplished in a manner which is easy to assemble and is adapted to automatic assembling techniques. In particular, the connector terminals may be supported by application from above one of the facing portions with the other facing portion then being placed above the connector terminals thereby holding the terminals in place. Preferably, the two portions are integrally molded and define a living hinge. The portions may be joined in facing relationship by known techniques, such as cold staking, heat staking, snap welding, sonic welding and adhesive bonding.
According to another aspect of the invention, a vehicular exterior mirror assembly includes an actuator having a case and at least two electric motors supported by the case and connected with a reflective element to provide adjustment to the reflective element with respect to the two axes. A wiring harness is provided having a connector and a plurality of wires terminated at the connector. The connector includes a plurality of electrical connector terminals electrically interconnected with the wires and adapted to be joined with the actuator case. Complimentary retention members on the connector and the actuator case engage to retain the connector with the actuator case. The retention members are positively engaged, thus requiring motion other than a separating motion between the connector and the actuator case to disengage the retention members. This provides an exceptionally strong mechanical bond between the connector and the actuator case. Preferably, the retention member includes a pair of ears on one of the connector and the actuator case which engage features protruding from the other of the connector and the actuator case.
Accordingly to yet another aspect of the invention, a vehicular exterior mirror assembly includes an actuator having a case and at least two electrical motors supported by the case and connected with a reflective element to provide adjustment to the reflective element with respect to at least two axes. The assembly further includes a wiring harness having a connector and a plurality of wires terminated at the connector. The connector includes a plurality of electrical connector terminals electrically interconnected with the wires and adapted to be joined with the actuator case. The mirror assembly housing defines an internal passage therethrough. The electrical connector has a cross-section width dimension that is less than the cross section of the internal passage of the mirror assembly housing. This allows the connector to be passed through the opening during assembly of the mirror assembly. In this manner, both ends of the wiring harness can be terminated in electrical connectors prior to assembly to the mirror assembly and the connector which joins with the actuator case can be passed through the opening in order to interconnect the actuator with the vehicle electrical system. This is exceptionally efficient in assembly of the mirror assembly. By allowing both ends of the wiring harness to be terminated in connectors ahead of time, the wiring harness is adapted to be manufactured using automated techniques.
These and other objects, advantages, and features of this invention will become apparent upon review of the following specification in conjunction with the drawings.